Seedlings, one perfect, the other stalling.

These have been in coco for 4 days now. The one took right off, and the other not so much. I took the seed husk off bc it seemed like it was having a hard time cracking it open. Since then it hasn’t had much progress. Here are a couple pics. One is of the healthy one, and the other is of the one I’m concerned about. It’s been a couple days now, and the seedling hasn’t made any progress. I did not water them today to let them dry out. I’ve been watering lightly once a day. I’ve had them on 24hr, but I’m switching it to 18/6 as of today.

Both look fine, there's always a slow poke but it looks like it'll be fine. Only thing I see is way over-watered, damp, not soaked is fine at this stage, keep RH high.

GroErr said:

Both look fine, there's always a slow poke but it looks like it'll be fine. Only thing I see is way over-watered, damp, not soaked is fine at this stage, keep RH high.

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Thanks for the reply. Hopefully with no watering today, it’ll dry out a bit and be able to breathe. I didn’t think I was over watering, but looking at that pic it’s pretty clear that it’s saturated lol.

Odindris said:

Thanks for the reply. Hopefully with no watering today, it’ll dry out a bit and be able to breathe. I didn’t think I was over watering, but looking at that pic it’s pretty clear that it’s saturated lol.

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Yeah, the pic doesn't lie, lol Just let them dry out a bit, that second one should be opened up within 24 hours.

use a syringe or an eye dropper to water just around a seedling for the first week or so, let them stretch out some roots before you soak them

Odindris said:

Thanks for the reply. Hopefully with no watering today, it’ll dry out a bit and be able to breathe. I didn’t think I was over watering, but looking at that pic it’s pretty clear that it’s saturated lol.

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I agree with @GroErr. Pull back on the watering.


I'd like to add that your containers may have some fertilizer salt build up; or it could be, grey mold or mildew.

I'm referring to image 1.

Salt build up can burn plants and result in poor nutrient uptake.

Mold can infect the plant, slow growth and eventually kill the plant.

Cleaning old containers in crucial!!

that looks like old salt residue, but you're absolutely right, wash pots when you empty them, and let them dry before you store them. you can kill a seedling with mold really quick

Wow yeah, great spot!! I will do that as soon as I get home. It’s def old residue.

Odindris said:

Wow yeah, great spot!! I will do that as soon as I get home. It’s def old residue.

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I hate to be the one to break this to you; it may be a good idea to start over.

I can not say for certain that you won't be successful, but the fact is, the soil may already be contaminated.

It's not only the mineral salt you need to worry about, organisms that host disease can be living on debris that are left over in your container (Rindels, 1994).

It's a real pain when your mature plant becomes necrotic for a silly reason like forgetting to wash a container.


An alternative to starting over is preforming a surgical transplant to clean containers, although this is risky.


Edit:

Mineral salt may need to be scraped with a knife.


Link for instructions on cleaning pots/Reference

https://hortnews.extension.iastate.edu/1994/3-16-1994/clean.html

i usually scrub mine with a green pad and soapy water, rinse them off, then spray them with bleach water and let them dry. i'll store them that way, then give them a quick rinse when i pull it off the pile to use.

i think you'll be ok, look at it when you get home, as long as it doesn't look like mold, wipe it off and keep going. if it does look like mold, get some hydrogen peroxide, and add it to your water for 3 or 4 feedings. if all you can get is the 3% stuff from the grocery store, use 20 ml per gallon of water, and it'll kill anything living in your pot besides roots.

I took the plants out of the pots very gently not exposing the roots, scrubbed the pots out with very hot soapy water. Found the small one was holding onto quite a bit of water, and was kind of dense so I made a fresh batch of coco/perlite, and re potted both.

Roger A. Shrubber said:

i usually scrub mine with a green pad and soapy water, rinse them off, then spray them with bleach water and let them dry. i'll store them that way, then give them a quick rinse when i pull it off the pile to use.

i think you'll be ok, look at it when you get home, as long as it doesn't look like mold, wipe it off and keep going. if it does look like mold, get some hydrogen peroxide, and add it to your water for 3 or 4 feedings. if all you can get is the 3% stuff from the grocery store, use 20 ml per gallon of water, and it'll kill anything living in your pot besides roots.

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I really don’t think it was mold, but I will keep a close eye on them for any signs. I know one thing.. I’ll always scrub/sanitize my pots after use from now on lol. Lesson learned.

I think the small one was unable to open. If you look close you can see a feint membrane around the tips. I did my best to remove this when I got home. We’ll see how it looks tomorrow...
Edit:
That’s exactly what it was! I finally got that tiny membrane completely off and got the 2 leaves to separate. Couldnt find any info on this issue, hopefully this can help others.

Having a spray bottle during the seedling stage is a must in my book...you can water with it to avoid over watering issues and also use it for a light spritz on a hanging husk or stuck membrane...g/l

Odindris said:

. I took the seed husk off bc it seemed like it was having a hard time cracking it open.

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Seedlings hate this. Shocks em every time, unless it literally just falls free. Failure to shed the shell after a certain time is a failure cutoff for me, I kill em.

Miyagismokes said:

Seedlings hate this. Shocks em every time, unless it literally just falls free. Failure to shed the shell after a certain time is a failure cutoff for me, I kill em.

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Yeah it def was not happy.. the leaves did open up after I took it off, we’ll see..hopefully it recovers... if not then all well, learn the hard way.

Roger A. Shrubber said:

i usually scrub mine with a green pad and soapy water, rinse them off, then spray them with bleach water and let them dry. i'll store them that way, then give them a quick rinse when i pull it off the pile to use.

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This is good advice and something I shall have to do myself...

i think them growing up through the ground helps get the seed and membrane loose. if i barely bury one, they always seem to need a little help with the membrane, at least. if i bury them about an inch and a half down, they almost always take care of it themselves